Cigarette dispenser



Patented Apr. 4, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE CIGARETTE DISPENSER Stanley 0. Both, Hamburg, N. Y. Application September 10, 1946, Serial No. 695,970

4 Claims. (01. 312s) 1 My present invention relatesgenerally to improvements in portable dispensing cabinets, for slender cylindrical articles, employing a horizontally reciprocating ejector, and more specifically to a cigaret dispenser of the manually operated type, which is simple in construction in order to assure smooth and reliable operation in the ejection of a cigaret from a supply of cigarets contained in bulk within an interior hopper of the cabinet.

The cabinet or enclosure, as a whole consists of a minimum. number of parts that may readily be manufactured and compactly assembled; and the ejecting mechanism, together with agitating means for the cigarets, also includes a minimum number of parts that may with convenience be assembled, mounted in operative position, and installed within the cabinet, for efiicient performance of its functions.

The invention consists in certain novel combinations and arrangements of these parts as will hereinafter be more fully set forth and claimed. Inthe accompanying drawings I have allustrated one complete example of the physical embodiment of my invention wherein the. parts are combined and arranged in accord with one mode I have thus far devised for the practical application of the principles of my invention in a cigaret dispenser. It will be understood that 'various changes and alterations may be made in the exemplifying drawings and mechanical structures, within the scope of my appended claims without departing irom'the principles of my invention.

' I have referred to the invention as embodied in a Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of a cigaret dispenser in which my invention is'embodied, indicated by dotted lines the position of an ejected clgaret; and Figure 2 is a front elevation of the device in Fig. 1. Figure 3 is a vertical, longitudinal, sectional view of the device, as at line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Figure 4 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 3, but showing the ejecting mechanism with the cigaret in ejected position. X Y v Figure 5 is a transverse sectional view through the cabinet,'as at line 5-5, showing the mechanism inejecting position. Figure 6 is a front elevation view of the device,

with the front plate removed, as at line 65 of Fig. 4.

Figure 7 is a transverse sectional view at line 1-,1 of Fig. 6.

Figure 8 is a top plan view of the base; and Figure 9 is a front elevation of they base for the dispenser for cigarets, but it will be understood that the dispenser may readily be adapted for vending or dispensing other similar articles, and the scope of my invention is therefore not limited to a cigaret dispenser per se.

As here illustrated I employ a cabinet or enclosure that includes an integral housing I molded, pressed or otherwise fashioned of suitable material, having vertical side walls and rounded top, in which an open end hopper 2 is formed and adapted to accommodate approximately two packs of cigarets C in bulk, and from which the cigarets are to be ejected. singly.

The bottom 3 of the hopper is depressed, with convex surfaces into a central longitudinally ex-. tending trough 4 of size and shape conforming to the contour of the cigaret, and a short narrow vertical slot 5 is provided which extends from the open rear end of the trough a suitable distance to accommodate the ejecting mechanism.

The convex bottom of the hopper is also provided with a pair of longitudinally extending,

front, vertical slots 6, 6, one at each side of the central trough 4, which slots open at the top into the interior of the hopper, and they also open at the bottom below the bottom ofthe hopper.

The bottom of the hopper is elevated above the lower edges of the side walls l of the housing, and these side walls are mounted upon a horizontal base block 3, which is molded, pressed or otherwise fashioned of material suitable for that purpose, and the base or base block is provided in .its upper face withopen end spaced and parallel grooves 9, 9; and a central elevated groove 10 that is located at therear of the base directly beneath the slot 5 of the housing for accommodation of part of the ejector mechanism. g The front of the housing or cabinet is closed by means of a face plate ll, preferably of metal, having a delivery or dispensing aperture l2 that is alined with the trough of the hopper, and the rear end of the cabinet is closed by a back plate l3, having dovetail vertically extending flanges N that accommodate and guide the movement of a detachable slide plate I5, The slide plate may be lifted to open position to permit filling of the hopper with a, supply of cigarets in bulk, and of course the supply may be replenished when a preceding one has been consumed.

- The housing and the base when assembled arerigidly. united ,in suitable manner, and the'endplates are fastened to the housing and base, as

by attaching screws, to provide a stable cabinet or enclosure for the cigarets and the dispensing mechanism. I

As indicated in Fig. 6 the cigarets, in bulk and looselyv arranged, are contained within the hopper with the lowermost cigaret in the though 4, at the bottom of a vertical column of cigarets that are in position to be fed successively into the trough, for ejection therefrom, and other cigarets are supported on the depressed bottom of the hopper. These latter cigarets, when unobstructed, are also adapted to roll down the convexly curved and opposed faces of the depressed bottom, and thus, singly, be fed into the trough 4, for ejection therefrom.

The ejecting mechanism, which also causes agitation of the cigarets to prevent jamming, and

' feeding. of the cigarets to the ejection trough, is

through the cabinet, near its front end, and it s 1 provided with fixed collars i9, is, to retain it in operative position and prevent excessive trans verse movement. A pair of laterally spaced rock arms 26, 26 are soldered, brazed, or welded rigidly on the rock bar and located in position to swing in the grooves 9 of the base and in the space beneath the elevated bottom of the hopper, and a U-shaped yoke H is pivotally connected at 2'2, 22, with the free ends of the rock arms.

On the connecting arm of the pivotal U-shaped yoke a slide block or ejecting block 23 is pivotally mounted to reciprocate horizontally upon the central elevated portion of the base block, and an L-shaped ejector 24 is rigidly secured to and travels with the slide block. The ejector projects upwardly, from groove It of the base block, through the vertical slot 5 of the bottom of the hopper or its trough, and the upper end of the ejector is fashioned with a suitable ejecting head 25 alined with and adapted to travel forwardly and backwardly through the trough 4 in the bottom of the hopper.

The'handles l6 and the rock arms 20 radiate in the same plane from the rock bar I! in order that the position of the ejector may readily be determined from the exterior of the cabinet. 33!

swinging the normally upright handles backward, the ejector is retracted; and by swinging the handles forward toward the front of the cabinet the ejector is projected to eject the lowermost cigaret C through the front delivery opening or aperture l2, as indicated by dotted lines in Figs. 4 and 5.

The sliding movement of the ejector block is guided by means of spaced guide plates 26, '26, that are fastened at opposite sides of the block and project above and below the block, as shown, the lower edges of the plates coacting with the sides of the central elevated portion of the base block.

' For performing the dual functions of agitating the cigarets in the hopper to prevent jamming, and to form a chute for gravity-feeding the cigarets in a vertical column down to the trough 4 of the hopper, I "provide a pair of vertically arranged, laterally spaced, cam plates 21, 21, that project upwardly through the two slots 6; 6, in the bottom of the hopper. These plates are re tained within the walls of the slots aga-inst'lon gitudinal movement with the ejector block, but they are mounted on the plates 26 of the slide block to have a verticallyreciprocating movement 4 on the slide block and through the slots 6 of the housing.

For this purpose the plates 26 are provided with complementary angular cam slots 28 extending generally in a horizontal direction, and screws 29 are passed through the cam slots and threaded into the respective cam plates 21. The lower edges of the 0am plates are fashioned with oblique or diagonal cam faces, and the slide block is fashioned with complementary cam faces 3| in its upper face.

from this description it will be apparent that as the slide block reciprocates horizontally, its

movement causes the cam plates to reciprocate vertically through slots 6, 6, into the lower portion of the hopper, and this reciprocating movemerit of the cam plates agitates the contained cigarets, and intermittently forms a vertical column of cigarets supported from the trough '4.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Iet ters Patent is:

1. In a .cigaret dispenser having a feed hopper, an ejecting trough, and an alined aperture, the combination with an ejector having .a head alined with the trough, and means for reciproeating the ejector, of vertically reciprocable means disposed at opposite sides of the trough and movable into the hopper to form a chute to the trough, and means actuated by the ejector for reciprocating said means to form the chute.

2. The invention as in claim 1 wherein said ejector is mounted on a reciprocable block and the means for reciprocating the ejector comprises a :U "shaped yoke pivotally mounted in the block. a transversely arranged rock-bar journaled beneath the trough, a pair of inner rock-arms pivoted to the yoke, and a pair of crank-arms exterior .of the dispenser and radially alined with the rock arms for actuating the rock-bar.

3. In a vcigaret dispenser having a feed hopper, a horizontal bottom-trough, and an aperturat-he combination with an ejector having a head aiined with the trough and aperture, and means for reciprocating the ejector, of a pair of vertically reciprocable chuteplates movable in loottom-slots at opposite sides of the trough into the hopper, and .coacting cam-actuated means on the ejector and said plates for translating horizontal movement of the ejector into vertical movement of the plates.

4. In a cigaret dispenser having a feed hopper, a horizontal bottom trough, and an aperture, the combination with an ejector having a head alined with the aperture and trough, and means for reciprocating the ejector, .of a pair of vertically reciprocable chute plates movable in buttom-slots at opposite sides of the trough into the hopper, means for mounting the plates on the ejector, and coacting cams on the plates and block for translating horizontal movement, of th fil'ector into vertical movement of the plates.

STANLEY o. BOTH. I p

' REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file'of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTs Number Name Date 1,637,767 Delano Aug. 2, 1927 2.2%,884 Carlton May 6, 194.1- 

